The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes during Period 83 (1 April 2009 - 30 September 2009) has been released. In this Period, two new instruments, SABOCA and APEX-SZ, both on APEX, are offered for the first time. FORS-1 is no longer offered, but its polarimetric module has been transferred to FORS-2, on which its blue-optimized CCD will also be available for observations in Visitor Mode. On La Silla, only Visitor Mode is supported, and the minimum run length of 3 nights will be strictly enforced: proposals including runs on La Silla telescopes with a duration of less than 3 nights will be rejected by the automatic proposal receiver. Large Programme proposals are encouraged on the 3.6-m telescope and the NTT, and can now last up to four years. (The maximum duration of Large Programme proposals for Paranal and Chajnantor remains two years.)Deadline for proposal submission is 1 October 2008, 12:00 noon CEST.The full Call for Proposals and the ESOFORM electronic submission package can be obtained at http://www.eso.org/observing/proposals/index.htmlIn order to avoid last-minute problems, users are strongly encouraged to fully verify their proposal well ahead of its actual submission, using a preliminary version including all necessary fixed-format technical information, but possibly incomplete or with non-final text (see the ESOFORM manual for details).

The Submillimetre APEX Bolometer Camera (SABOCA), a 39-channel bolometer array operating at 350 micron, will be commissioned on the APEX 12m telescope on Chajnantor in September 2008. Short proposals for science verification to be scheduled in the following month are invited. All observations will be performed in service mode by the local APEX staff and proposals will be coordinated between the APEX partners. Further details can be found at http://www.eso.org/sci/activities/apexsv/sabocasv/Deadline for submission of SABOCA SV proposals is noon CEST 15 September 2008.

AMBER is offered for the first time together with the external fringe tracker FINITO in Period 82. AMBER has already been in service with the UT's but using it with FINITO opens a new window on ground-based near-IR interferometry. A Science Verification run with AMBER + FINITO and three UT's - UT1, UT2, and UT4 - is scheduled for October 12-14 2008. The observations will be carried out in Service Mode by a dedicated team who will also assist PI's in the preparation and optimization of the OB's. Please refer here for details.The deadline for submission of AMBER + FINITO SV proposals is 10 September 2008.

Users are strongly encouraged to routinely check the La Silla-Paranal instrument pages, as well as the Observatory News page ( http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lpo/news), to access the latest updates about the availability of instruments and newly offered modes.

The closing date for applications for ESO Fellowships, to be taken up in 2009, is 15 October 2008. Full details can be found here. Applications should be made online through the ESO recruitment portal.

A deeper, finer view of the UniverseWorkshop on ALMA and ELTs. Garching, Germany, 24-27 March 2009The main goal of the workshop is to bring together the international ALMA and ELT communities, to identify the common science cases and outline instrumentation/upgrade priorities for the ALMA and ELT facilities in order to support these programmes. The workshop is jointly organised with representatives of all ALMA partners and ELT projects. For further details refer to http://www.eso.org/almaelt2009The closing date for registration is December 15, 2008.

The Interferometric View on Hot StarsJoint ESO, CTIO, Universidad Valparaiso Workshop. Vina del Mar, Chile, 2-6 March 2009.The meeting aims at bringing together hot star and interferometry expertise, both observationally and theoretically, to review the progress made, as well as to to outline current problems in hot star research that are expected to benefit most from interferometric observations.Before the meeting (26-27 February 2009), an interferometry primer will be arranged at ESO, Vitacura, mainly intended for students, but open to all workshop participants.Further details can be found at http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/IHOT09/The registration deadline is 17 December 2008.

The raw science and calibration data from the three Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD). Science Demonstration observing runs are now available through the ESO archive. For news on the latest data releases and development of instrument-specific archive query forms, see http://archive.eso.org/